Grandmother dies in haze of gun shots

Linda Ann Grant was part of an intimate community that gathers each day at King Brothers Market on Northwest 62nd Street. Grant’s friends called her “Baby Girl” and “Hey Honey.”

Grant, 62, died Monday, April 14, when she was gunned down outside the market while enjoying some early evening socializing with friends. A police report said a young man wielding guns in both hands opened fire on the group of about a dozen.

“She was my best friend and I’m heartbroken,” said Latrice Anderson, Grant’s daughter, as she stood near the makeshift memorial of balloons, stuffed animals and flowers Grant’s friends built outside the market the next day.

A mother and grandmother of six was a regular visitor at the store located at 1304 NW 62nd St., directly across from the Pork ‘n’ Beans as the Liberty Square housing project is known in the neighborhood.

Sometimes she’d talk to folks who came by, or ask them for quarters. Grant was shot in the stomach. Two men, David Wesley Brown, 53, and Phillip C. Roundtree, 54, were also shot, suffering non-life-threatening wounds.

By week’s end, Roundtree had been released from Jackson Memorial Hospital. The shooter disappeared in the chaos and police were working to gather his description from witnesses and surveillance video, as well as determine a motive.

“Someone needs to find the person that did this. This is completely senseless. She didn’t even know the other men shot,” said Sharlene Perkins, a close friend of Grant. “I know someone knows something, and they need to step up.”

Friends and family stopped by the memorial to remember their friend. “Everybody knew her from the neighborhood. It was a spot she loved to go and socialize with her friends at everyday,” said Anderson.

Grant struggled with habitual drug and public drinking offenses. Perkins says Grant overcame a lot in her life, but always remained a kind, supportive and loving member of her community.

“She is the best thing that happened to this neighborhood and would always give you all her attention and love,” she said. Grant’s friends say they plan to arrange a formal memorial service but have not scheduled a date.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).